Why should I confess?

  Posted on August 3, 2017  by admin  No comments

The precept to confess at least once a year is a reminder to receive the sacrament of penance on a regular basis. If no grave sin has been committed in that time, confession is not necessary. However, frequent confession is of great value; it makes us more deeply conformed to Christ and most submissive to the voice of the Spirit.

Reconciliation is a personal encounter with Jesus Christ represented by the priest in the confessional. The penitent admits to God that he has sinned, makes an act of sorrow, accepts a penance (prayers, acts of self-denial, or works of service to others), and resolves to do better in the future.

The first step is prayer and an examination of conscience

Examination of Conscience
“A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup”[1 Cor 11:27-29]

First Commandment
“I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me.” [Ex 20:2,3]

  • Did I doubt or deny that God exists?
  • Did I refuse to believe what God as revealed to us?
  • Did I believe in fortune telling, horoscopes, dreams, the occult, good-luck charms, tarot cards, palmistry, Ouija boards, seances, reincarnation?
  • Did I deny that I was Christian?
  • Did I leave the Christian Faith?
  • Did I give time to God each day in prayer?
  • Did I love God with my whole heart?
  • Did I despair of or presume on God’s mercy?
  • Did I have false gods in my life that I gave greater attention to than God, like money, profession, drugs, TV, fame, pleasure, property, etc.?

Second Commandment
“You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain.” [Ex 20:7]

  • Did I blaspheme or insult God?
  • Did I take God’s name carelessly or uselessly?
  • Did I curse, or break an oath or vow?
  • Did I get angry with God?

Third Commandment
“Remember that you keep holy the Sabbath Day.” [Ex 20:8]

  • Did I miss Mass Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation through my own fault?
  • Did I come to Mass on time? Leave early?
  • Did I do work on Sunday that was not necessary?
  • Did I set aside Sunday as a day of rest and a family day?
  • Did I show reverence in the presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament?

Fourth Commandment
“Honor your father and your mother.” [Ex 20:12]

  • Did I disobey or disrespect my parents or legitimate superiors?
  • Did I neglect my duties to my husband, wife, children or parents?
  • Did I neglect to give good religious example to my family?
  • Did I fail to actively take an interest in the religious education and formation of my children?
  • Did I fail to educate myself on the true teachings of the Church?
  • Did I give scandal by what I said or did, especially to the young?
  • Did I cause anyone to leave the faith?
  • Did I cause tension and fights in my family?
  • Did I care for my aged and infirm relatives?
  • Did I give a full day’s work for a full day’s pay?
  • Did I give a fair wage to my employees?

Fifth Commandment
“You shall not kill.” [Ex 20:13]

  • Did I kill or physically injure anyone?
  • Did I have an abortion, or advise someone else to have an abortion? [One who procures and abortion is automatically excommunicated, as is anyone who is involved in an abortion, Canon 1398. The excommunication will be lifted in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.]
  • Did I use or cause my spouse to use birth control pills [whether or not realizing that birth control pills do abort the fetus if and when conceived]?
  • Did I attempt suicide?
  • Did I take part in or approve of “mercy killing” [euthanasia]?
  • Did I get angry, impatient, envious, unkind, proud, revengeful, jealous, hateful toward another, lazy?
  • Did I give bad example by drug abuse, drinking alcohol to excess, fighting, quarreling?
  • Did I abuse my children?

Sixth Commandment
“You shall not commit adultery.” [Ex 20:14] “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.” [Ex 20:17]

Note: In the area of deliberate sexual sins listed below, all are mortal sins if there is sufficient reflection and full consent of the will. “No fornicators, idolaters, or adulterers, no sodomites,… will inherit the kingdom of God.” [1 Cor 6:9-10] “Anyone who looks lustfully at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his thoughts.” [Mt 5:28]

  • Did I willfully entertain impure thoughts or desires?
  • Did I use impure or suggestive words? Tell impure stories? Listen to them?
  • Did I deliberately look at impure TV, videos, plays, pictures or movies? Or deliberately read impure materials?
  • Did I commit impure acts by myself [masturbation]?
  • Did I commit impure acts with another – fornication [premarital sex], adultery [sex with a married person]?
  • Did I practice artificial birth control [by pills, device, withdrawal]?
  • Did I marry or advise anyone to marry outside the Church?
  • Did I avoid the occasions of impurity?
  • Did I try to control my thoughts?
  • Did I engage in homosexual activity?
  • Did I respect all members of the opposite sex, or have I thought of other people as objects?
  • Did I or my spouse have sterilization done?
  • Did I abuse my marriage rights?

Seventh Commandment
“You shall not steal.” [Ex 20:15] “You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.” [Ex 20:17]

  • Did I steal, cheat, help or encourage others to steal or keep stolen goods? Have I made restitution for stolen goods?
  • Did I fulfill my contracts; give or accept bribes; pay my bills; rashly gamble or speculate; deprive my family of the necessities of life?
  • Did I waste time at work, school or at home?
  • Did I envy other people’s families or possessions?
  • Did I make material possessions the purpose of my life?

Eighth Commandment
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” [Ex 20:16]

  • Did I lie?
  • Did I deliberately deceive others, or injure others by lies?
  • Did I commit perjury?
  • Did I gossip or reveal others’ faults or sins?
  • Did I fail to keep secret what should be confidential?

OTHER SINS

  • Did I fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday?
  • Did I eat meat on the Fridays of Lent or Ash Wednesday?
  • Did I fail to receive Holy Communion during Easter time?
  • Did I go to Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin? Without fasting [water and medicine permitted] for one hour from food and drink?
  • Did I make a bad confession?
  • Did I fail to contribute to the support of the Church?

“Whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily sins against the Body and Blood of the Lord. … He who eats and drinks without recognizing the Body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” [1 Cor 11:27-29]

How Do I Confess!!

In the Confessional kneel and make the sign of the cross and say:”Bless me father for I have sinned.” Then say: “It has been days, weeks or months since your last confession.” Here name all the sins which you have recalled to mind since your last confession. Then say: “For these, and all the sins of my past life I am heartily sorry”. Then listen attentively and humbly to the priest and note the penance he imposes.

The priest then will ask you make an Act of Contrition then say: “O my God I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven, and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace, amend my life and to do my penance. Amen”.

The priest will then give you Absolution.[“God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; Through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”]

The priest will then say ” Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.” You then say: “His mercy endures for ever.”

You then exit the confessional and perform your penance.

The Bible and Confession

The disciples were the first priests of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and Christ gave them the power to forgive sin through the sacrament of confession when breathed upon them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” [John 20:22-23]

SCRIPTURAL PROOF

  1. “all this from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation…So, we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us” [2 Cor. 5:18-20]
  2. “Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be looses in heaven.” [Matt 18:18]
  3. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” [James 5:16]
  4. “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and what ever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” [Matt 16:19]
  5. “Many of those who had become believers came forward and openly acknowledged their former practices.” [Acts 19:18]

Suggestions For A Good Confession

  1. Set up a time every month that you go to confession, example the first of every month.
  2. Get a book that will help you examine you conscience. Peter and Paul Ministries suggests
  3. Spend some quite time in prayer and reflection.
  4. Write your sins down.( It is ok to take the the list of your sins or any guide that will help you into the confessional.)
  5. Go as a Family!
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